Here and Now
by coffeemuse
Summary: Just a random story about the extending Castle/Beckett family. (Cover art by itisthedrawer.tumblr)
1. Chapter 1

It was a little after four in the afternoon when Kate slipped through the front door. Luckily it had been a slow day-nothing but paper work, really, so Gates let everyone go home early. Unfortunately, they were all on call, but that lamentable fact was quickly pushed to the back of her mind when she heard the small pitter patter of feet on the hard wood floor followed by giggling. As Kate stepped further into the loft she saw her daughter waddle-run her way around the beginning of the stair case and colliding with Kate's knees.

"Mommy, mommy, mommy!" Her daughter squealed, clutching the lose fabric of Kate's pants in her small hands, jumping and down. Her dark blonde hair bobbed on the tops of her shoulders; the barrette that was holding her bangs back loosened causing a strand of hair to fall in the little girls face, and using both hands, she pushed her hair back eagerly.

"Mommy!" The little girl continued to bounce, and Kate scooped her up kissing her face all over.

"Hey, baby. How was your day home with daddy?" Ryleigh, who was just over two years old, grinned wickedly. Her eyebrows shot up as she giggled, "Nun!"

"Oh. Fun, huh? What'd you guys do?" Kate asked, setting the now squirming toddler on the floor.

"Pay!"

"You played all day? Well, aren't you lucky." Ryleigh gave her a toothy grin.

"Where_'s _daddy?"

"Daaaaddddyyy!" The little girl squealed, bolting off towards Castle's office.

Kate approached the room noticing almost immediately that Castle wasn't in there. Ryleigh stood in the center of the room in front of his desk with her eyebrows bunched together. She looked back at Kate and pointed to his desk. "No dada?"

"Nope, looks like daddy isn't in here. Where else could he be?"

Ryleigh huffed, dashing out of the office and stood in the living room, looking around. "Daaaaadddy?"

Kate slowly trailed behind her daughter keeping her eyes peeled for her husband as well. She saw Castle out of the corner of her eye as he rounded the couch on his knees and crawled into the kitchen. She pressed her hand to her mouth to hide her grin as she watched him scramble to hide before his daughter could see him.

"Leigh? Where could daddy be?"

The toddler stood in between the two arm chairs, a look of concentration on her face. "Daddy?"

"Yeah, where's daddy? Let's find daddy!" Kate encouraged, leading the way now. Ryleigh teetered behind her, her excitement almost causing her to stumble and topple over.

Kate stood by the dinning room table glancing into the kitchen where Castle was crouched down behind the kitchen island. Ryleigh stopped beside her looking up at her mother for direction.

"Where could he be?" Kate asked animatedly as she brought her hands to her hips.

"Ryleigh," Castle whispered as he peeked his head around the table. Her little head turned quickly to where the sound was coming from and took off running just as she saw him disappear again.

Giggling and babbling happily, she rounded the corner and Castle scooped her up under his arm immediately causing the little girl to shriek and then fall into a fit of giggles as he blew raspberries into her belly.

"Darn, you found me. You're gonna be a detective just like mommy, huh?"

Kate rolled her eyes as she met him in the kitchen. "Don't give her any ideas."

She leaned into her husband and kissed him lightly on the lips. Ryleigh, who was now perched on her father's hip, jetted her arms out giving Kate the "grabby hands".

"Mommy, kith!"

"Oh, you want a kiss too?"

"Kith!"

Kate held out her arms and Ryleigh struggled against Castle to get to her. But he took a step back, swinging her away from Kate.

"No kissies! Only _I'm_ allowed to kiss mommy."

Their daughter growled and kicked her feet, kneeing Castle in the solar plexus. He let out a grunt, but continued to step away from Kate who was now taking steps towards him, grinning.

"Mommy!" Ryleigh cried, leaning out of Castle's arms to reach her mother.

"I know, daddy's being mean. Tell him I can share kisses!"

Ryleigh tried to use her mother's words but ended up babbling angrily at her father. He laughed, giving in and handing her over to Kate who gathered her up in her arms and planted loud sloppy, smacking kisses all over her face.

Ryleigh giggled, throwing her arms around Kate's neck and burrowing her face into her neck. She sighed contently and clung to her mother. Kate ran her hand softly up and down her back and felt her rub her little nose against her shoulder.

"Someone's wore out," Castle commented, stepping back into the kitchen.

Kate smiled. "Yeah, good. Won't be too hard to get her down tonight."

"Order in or cook?"

Kate scrunched her lips to the side in thought. "Order in? I could really go for some Chinese right now."

"No, 'nese!" Ryleigh piped up, still cuddled into her mother's chest.

"Nope, no 'nese for you." Castle agreed, poking her in the side. She yelped out a laugh, squirming to get away from his intruding finger, accidentally kicking Kate in the stomach.

Kate quickly sucked in a gasp, the sudden movement frightening her more than actually hurting her. Ryleigh froze in her mother's arms. She pressed her hands into Kate's chest leaning back to look at her mother and frowned.

She squirmed in Kate's arms, and started to shimmy down her side to get to the floor.

"You're fine, baby girl, you just gotta be careful, remember?"

Ryleigh shook her head.

"You okay?" Castle asked cautiously as she rubbed her prominently swollen belly. "Yeah, no big deal, just caught me off guard. We're tough cookies though, aren't we little man?"

"Of course you are. There's nothing tougher than a Beckett/Castle hybrid. You're undefeatable, the two of you! With your powers combined, you could easily take down all the bad guys of New York!"

She blinked up at him, chuckling. "Yeah, well, hunger is about to defeat me soon if you don't feed me."

"Oh, right. I'll call in the order and you can make her something to eat? Get her in the bath afterwards and get her to bed a little bit early tonight since she's going back to daycare tomorrow?"

"Sounds like a plan to me."

Castle held his hand up for a high-five, and they slapped their hands together. Kate turned on her heel and called out for her daughter who was in the living room climbing into her tub full of toys.

"Come on, little one. You hungry?"

Ryleigh squealed happily as she ran past her mother and to her high-chair.

"I'll take that as a yes," Kate laughed as she lifted her up and locked her in the seat.

Kate handed her a wooden spoon to occupy her while she maneuvered around the kitchen, the wet smacking of her daughters lips as she happily baby-talked to herself was like music to her ears.

She glanced up to see Castle walking around aimlessly as he ordered their food. She couldn't help but smile. Even after three years of marriage, and two years of being a mom, it still caught her by surprise that this was her life. She has a husband that she loves so desperately, a daughter who she adores more than anyone ever, and now there was a new life growing inside of her. She often thought that this was all a dream and that one day she'd wake up cold and alone in her bed back in her old apartment. And maybe this _is_ all a long lucid dream, but until she wakes up, she's going to enjoy the ride for as long as she can. Because this is where she wants to be. Forever.

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I have no idea where this came from. I hope you enjoyed it? I'm sorry? I don't know?


	2. Chapter 2

**So, a few of you reviewed asking for this little nonsense story to carry on, but a LOT of you PM'd me about continuing this story. So _thank you_. I wasn't expecting anyone to even read it, let alone want more. I feel I need to reiterate that I'm not a "writer", so for the most part I have no idea what I'm doing, but if some of you want this to go on, I'll try my best. **

**There is no plot to this story. As of right now, anyway. Just random Caskett family times.**

* * *

After bath time, Kate had no troubles putting their sleepy girl to bed. An excited, fun-filled day home with daddy clearly wore her out, and after putting her in her warm pajamas (fresh out of the dryer), Ryleigh crawled herself into bed and was out before her little head hit the pillow.

Kate kissed her daughter's forehead before standing to turn on the baby monitor. With her room being so far away from Kate and Castle's, they figured it best to continue to use one just in case.

Kate pulled Ryleigh's door closed behind her and wandered into her son's room. With her only being barely five months along, the nursery isn't quite done yet. It was only a few days ago that they even found out the gender of their youngest. On one of the walls is a plethora of paint swatches tacked to the wall with different coloured paint streaks next to it. Castle wants to stick more to the blue's and green's whereas Kate wants to do an earthy theme of more browns and tans.

The crib sits partially put together in the center of the room, and in the corner sits a rocking chair that Martha passed down to Kate when she was pregnant with Ryleigh. A small grin appears on her face remembering all of the nights she sat and rocked her little girl to sleep.

She sighed happily as she turned to exit the room, but was startled to find Castle grinning as he stood in the from of the door.

"Geeze, Castle. Don't you know not to to frighten a pregnant woman? How long have you been there?"

"Not long. Food's here." He told her, walking up to her, circling her arms around her waist.

"You okay?" He asked, tucking her head under his chin and pulling her closer to him.

"Mmm, yeah. I'm good. I know Ryleigh's not that old, but it feels like forever ago that she was just a baby, you know? I feel like I have a case of the new-mom jitters again."

"If it makes you feel any better, I feel like I have the new-dad jitters again. I have Alexis _and_ Ry, but I'm getting a _boy _this time. It feels different. New. I'm not sure what to expect with a little boy. I think it's normal for us to be a little anxious."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." She smiled into his chest before he stepped away from her, running his hand down her arm to take her hand in his. "C'mon, let's go eat."

* * *

"No."

"C'mon, Why _not_?"

"Castle, no. We are not naming our son Cosmo. Why are you so dead-set on naming him that?" She sat the beef lo mein noodle carton down and looked at him incredulously.

"Why are you so dead-set on _not_ naming him that?" He shot back.

"Because, Castle. I will not aid in getting our kid bullied. Cosmo? Really? They're going to call him _Cosmopolitan_ and make magazine and alcohol jokes."

He stared at her for a second before shaking his head. "Yeah, you're right. Okay, so. How about James?"

Kate blinked, stopping mid-chew. "Like... after my dad?"

Castle nodded his head. "Yeah."

"You'd really want to name him after my dad? Castle, that's so sweet!"

"Only if his middle name can be Cosmo, though." He grinned at her, wiggling his eyebrows.

Kate snorted out a laugh and turned her body away from him, planting both feet on the ground. "You're a mess." She told him, using the arm of the couch to help hoist herself up. She made her way into the kitchen to put the containers of left-overs in the fridge.

As she was walking back to the couch, she noticed Castle had the baby monitor to his ear.

"What's up?" She asked, leaning over the back of the couch to listen.

Castle turned the volume up and a shrieking cry filled the room. "Mommy!"

Kate took off for the stairs but was immediately stopped by Castle who had a hold of her upper arm. "I got her, I'll bring her down. I don't need you running up the stairs."

"Castle, I-"

"Kate, please?"

She huffed out a breath and nodded her head. "Yeah."

He took off up the stairs, taking two at a time. Castle came back down a few minutes later with a squirming Ryleigh trying to get out of his arms as she called for her mommy. He handed their daughter over to Kate and she quickly latched on and buried her face in Kate's neck, slightly whimpering.

"Hey, baby. You're okay. You're okay."

Ryleigh rubbed her nose over Kate's shoulder, sniffling. She balled her fist up and Kate's hair panting, trying to catch her breath.

"Castle, this isn't normal. A nightmare every once in a while I can understand, but this is becoming an every night ordeal. She can't keep staying home from daycare when you've got a book deadline coming up."

Castle scrubbed his hands over his face. "I know. I'll search for a specialist or something in the morning. How about she sleeps with us tonight? You have tomorrow off anyway."

Kate swayed back in forth, trying to lull her daughter to calmness. "Okay, yeah that works."

"Mommy, I seep wif you t'night?" Ryleigh whispered into Kate's neck.

"Yeah, little one. You can sleep with mommy and daddy tonight."

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**I'm not going to push for reviews, but if you want to comment with a possible name for their little boy (or any general suggestions), go ahead. :)**


	3. Chapter 3

The morning sun streamed through the bedroom, scurrying the darkness away. Kate woke up to a warm body pressed flushed against her. Cracking an eye open, she looked down to see that Ryleigh had somehow managed to turn herself around during the night. Kate had tossed the covers off of her at some point, and Ryleigh's head was at her knee and she had one armed looped over her mother's thigh, holding her close. Scanning the room, which now had a dull orange-y glow to it, Kate's eyes fell on the clock on her side of the bed. 7:30 AM. She closed her eyes in thought, debating on whether she wanted to get up or not, but with the warm little body cozied up to her and the soft snore of her husband, it was hard to think of doing anything else rather than lying in bed with them. So she opted to do so. She shifted her leg a little to turn onto her side, and Ryleigh stirred a little, smacked her lips in her sleep, continuing to hang on to Kate's leg.

Kate shifted her eyes to Castle, who was on his stomach with an arm folded underneath his pillow. He was facing her with his mouth open a little, and his other arm dangling off the bed. Smiling at the sight, Kate closed her eyes and fell back asleep.

At 8:04 AM, Kate's eyes opened to see Ryleigh's green eyes right in front of her own. She tossed an arm around her daughter and pulled her in close, and the little girl burrowed into her mother, tucking her head underneath Kate's chin.

"Did you sleep okay?" Kate whispered into her ear. Ryleigh shook her head 'yes'.

"No more nightmares?"

Ryleigh pulled away a little, used her little hand to shove back the hair that was in her face. "Monsters."

"Monsters?" Kate questioned, knitting her eyebrows together. "What kind of monsters?"

"Dunno. Scary."

"There not real, baby. They can't hurt you. It's just pictures in your head that your brain makes up. No such thing as monsters."

"No real?

"No, babe. No real. I promise."

Ryleigh sighed and scooted closer to Kate, rubbing her nose against her chest. Kate snuggled her daughter a little longer, thinking about possibly falling back asleep for a little while, but with the little one in her belly suddenly flipping around, it was going to be hard to do.

"Alright, little man. I hear you." She said, running her hand along her swollen belly.

Ryleigh's eyes bugged. "Da baby _talk_?" She sat up and lifted up Kate's shirt and put her ear to her stomach.

Kate tried to hold back a laugh as she explained to her daughter that she couldn't _actually _hear him.

Ryleigh sat up, her eye brows knitted together in a look of confusion as she stared at her mother.

"Baby won't be able to talk for a really long time. He's moving around, getting his morning stretches in. Which means, I should get up and start my day."

"Me too!" Ryleigh shrieked as she climbed over her mother's legs and shimmied her way down to the floor before taking off out of their bedroom. Kate flinched and looked over at Castle to see if he had woken up. He was still zonked out.

Kate then turned to watch her daughter wobble-run out of the room, grinning to herself. Ryleigh was definitely a Castle.

Speaking of...

She leaned over and shoved Castle's shoulder. "Babe, get up."

Nothing.

"Castle."

Still nothing.

"RICK."

Castle's head shot up off the pillow, his hair sticking up in the front, some of it falling in his eyes and he had indentations on his face from the pillow, showing just how hard he had been sleeping.

"Yeah, what, what's going on, I'm 'wake." He slurred, slowly lowering his head back to the pillow, eyes closing along the way.

"Castle, it's almost nine. Get up, lazy bones."

He groaned into his pillow. "Don't wanna."

"Okay, fine."

She climbed out of bed in search for her suspiciously quiet daughter.

"Leigh?"

Ryleigh's little head popped up from behind the coffee table where her box of toys were.

"Wanna wake daddy up?"

The little girl nodded her head fiercely and took off running back to her parents bedroom. Kate trailed behind her, hoisting her up on the bed once she reached it.

Castle took refuge under the giant comforter, submerging himself fully underneath it once he heard little feet heading for the room.

Once Ryleigh hit the bed, she started shrieking and bouncing, using Castle's shoulder for leverage.

"Dada, up! Dadda, dadda, daaaaddddaaaa!"

Castle sat up and flung the covers off of him before taking his daughter in his arms and knocking her off her feet, ticking her as she thrashed around laughing loudly.

"Mommy!" Ryleigh yelped, trying to get away from her father's tickling embrace. She got away long enough to start crawling towards the end of the bed where Kate stood with her arms out, but just as she thought she was out of Castle's reach, he grabbed her by her ankle and dragged her back to him. As her little body slid across the bed, she kept one hand out still trying to reach for Kate, which made her laugh. So dramatic. Most definitely a Castle.

"Mommy can't save you!" Castle cackled, pulling her underneath the covers with him. He started blowing raspberries everywhere he could, and she shrieked with laughter, kicking the blanket as she tried to get away.

Kate continued to stand at the end of the bed laughing as she watched the lump underneath the covers come for her. Ryleigh popped her head out and immediately reached for Kate who took her into her arms. Her face was hot and she was breathing heavily, but she continued to grin, eyeing her father to make sure he wasn't going to come for her.

Castle emerged from the blanket as well, his hair more messed up than before, and he too was red-face and panting.

"Okay, okay. Play times over. I don't need either of you having heat stroke."

Castle looked at Ryleigh. "Mommy always takes all the fun away." To which Ryleigh replied with an emphasized "_mmhhmm_!"

Kate rolled her eyes as she walked over to Castle, giving him a kiss. "Well, someone's gotta be the adult around here."

"Glad it's you and not me."

"I bet you are."

Castle leaned in to give her another kiss before Kate stood up, Ryleigh still in her arms, her head resting on her shoulder. As Kate went to go walk away, he grabbed her arm and lightly pulled her back to him. He held out his arms and Ryleigh happily went into them, clinging to his chest. "Give mommy a break, hmm?"

Kate ran her hand through her daughter's short hair. "I need to go cook breakfast anyway. And you have a book to write."

"Ew, yeah. Don't remind me."

"Well someone has to, you have a deadline coming up."

"Again. Don't remind me."

He sat Ryleigh down, and she took off for the kitchen as soon as her feet hit the floor, and he collapsed on the bed.

Kate leaned against the mattress, bending over to kiss him on the forehead. "Get up, shower, and go write. I'll bring breakfast to you."

He looked up at her smiling. "You're the best."

"I know." She grinned, sticking her tongue out at him before turning to exit the room.

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**I'm really blown away with how many people are continuing to read this story. Seeing a new favorite/alert/review makes me dislike myself a little less every time. So. Thank you.**

**Also this chapter was a lot longer and I had to find a place to cut it off. The continuation will be up soon. :)**

**Suggestions for baby names are still welcome!**


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